Just came back from Rome, Sardinia and Milan. Main purpose of the trip was to attend Immunology Summer School in Sardinia. Supposed to be 5 days of fun in the sun (and er.. lecture theaters).
First stop: 2 days in the Eternal City. Our Roman hostel was the Alessandro Downtown, near the Termini. Decent location, ok beds, 30mins free internet, hard rolls for breakfast, RELIABLE hot water. thumbs up for 30Euros.
We must have walked for miles up and down Rome. Amazing everything. Except for the Roman forum, which had me thinking that archaeology must be more art than science, the other major sites were incredibly well preserved. No need to decipher faded stones battered by jungle vegetation (eg. Angkor Wat and all the Mayan and Incan ruins).
Highlights of my day were the Trevi Fountain (I really like all the High Renaissance stuff), and the gelato near the hostel. Josephine and Preston were also great travel companions (none of that 'punishing schedule' complaints from Peru-- in fact, Preston is even crazier than me).
The next day, we went on the hostel's 'Vatican' walking tour, which included Piazza de Navona, and St Peter's Basilica. Bernini is a genius. Don't know much about his architecture, but his sculptures are magnificent in all their sinewy glory. All the angels on the Angels bridge have different expressions, from stern to beatific serenity. That day's gelato (near the Pantheon) was not as good as the first.
My last morning in Rome, I went to the Basilica de San Clemente (church upon a church upon a church-- sounded cool on Lonely Planet, but without a guide, it was only mildly cool, and very dark), and the Church of Immaculate Conception. The crypt of the latter had 5 rooms, bizarrely decorated with the bones of departed monks and poor Christians. To me it was somewhat macabre, but according to the postcard, it was meant for reflection on the fragility of human life in comparison to eternal heaven with God (or something like that).
In Sardinia, summer school went well, except someone forgot to tell Poseidon and Zeus (I know those are their Greek names, but I'm a purist. and too lazy to check up their Roman ones) that it was summer. Brief, precious moments of sunshine were chased away by clouds, rain, and howling winds. The winds were so strong one day, they blew Preston's DOOR FRAME (and door) completely off the wall.
Got to know some interesting people and facts, including
a) Claire, who is vegetarian, but allergic to wheat, pollen and nuts (she eats rice, vegetables and eggs).
b) Pinar, Turkish but working in UK on cattle TB, generally hilarious and fabulous
c) Antonio and his Milano gang, who are really funny and made a big effort to talk to us in English.
d) Olives growing near the sea taste fruity (acc. to Antonio)
e) French and german people with home-rolled cigarettes are holding good quality tobacco, not marijuana.
f) Small Sardinian beach resorts that cater to aging German tourists, really mean it when they say 'Disco' night. 1970s music was waaaay over-represented.
g) European keyboards have their apostrophes and semi-colons etc. in all the wrong places =(.
Of course, came to know the SIgN contingent a lot better too. They are surprisingly crazy people.
Last day in Italy was spent in fabulous Milan, home to the most magnificent Gothic cathedral I've ever seen. More beautiful than Notre Dame, IMHO. Unfortunately, it was also home to thousands of Inter Milan football fans. 16th May was an epic day for Inter fans-- the team was crowned Italian champions, and people were swarming all over the city centre, waving flags, singing songs, blaring horns. For me, it was fantastic for about 30seconds, then the constant horn blaring started to feel like a very blunt chisel was being shoved repeatedly into my ears. Josephine and I then were compelled to give up sightseeing, for shopping-- er. no ulterior motives there. it was for health reasons that we HAD to shop, you see.
Conclusions: Italy is fantastic, I never want to go back to work. Now, where's my gelato?